Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

Just as violence is an SP Artisan weapon, so deception is an NT Rational weapon. Just as self-defense is permitted violence, even given the libertarian non-aggression principle, so lying is, too, a form of self-defense. Theoretically, deceiving can even work as punishment, as you watch the person punished fail at his projects. Just as in martial arts it is best to avoid fighting altogether, and when forced to fight, damage the opponent only to the extent sufficient to neutralize him, it is the best policy always to tell the truth. But some people do not deserve the truth. Thus, a murderer seeking his victim can be legitimately misled as to the victim’s location. Just as a person becomes a good fighter through rigorous training, so one presumably can become a good liar by practicing in safe environments. Again, lying is a skill that ought only to be used in legitimate defense of oneself or another. However, I expect that just as some people have adopted pacifism as their philosophy, so others will swear never to utter a lie.

Now utilitarianism seeks to promote happiness, but the best way to do so is to teach people how to accomplish their own goals. As I have mentioned numerous times in my posts on religion, not even God can dispense with our own strivings. We must make ourselves and earn our own glory or shame. Paternalism is not a way to happiness. So, before filling a society with happiness, one must needs “fill it with truth” and enable people to make their own decisions through knowledge of this truth. Consider that the price system is means of conveying truth to market participants on the supply and demand of goods and services. Socialism destroys this truth-telling system. As I write here, “A socialist country does not have an economy; its central planners operate in the dark, unaware of how their actions affect other human beings.” The planners are blind; they have no information on how to choose rationally. As such, socialism is profoundly immoral, because people in it can’t tell when their self-interested undertakings, if successful, are going to be in the interest of the common good. Further, it is certainly in the interest of general happiness to help most people achieve their goals, but, since the punishment theory peculiar to NTs is deterrence, it is equally in this interest to hinder criminals’ attempts to achieve their goals, and potential evildoers who are contemplating some criminal act must be carefully manipulated and steered into choosing more productive ways of earning a living.

The first step to becoming a good utilitarian, then, is to know yourself and avoid any and all self-deceptions. The second step is to communicate your knowledge to others by teaching them the truth about whatever area you have mastered. The third step is to know when to tell the truth and when to lie, and if you choose to lie, do it with deadly consequences for your enemy, just as gun experts normally recommend shooting to kill in a dangerous confrontation with an aggressor, though if one is very good at shooting, he can try to minimize the damage to his enemy. The final step, if you are called to it, is to rule prudently not only yourself but others, as well.